“I don't want to give this person's disgraceful, bigoted views any oxygen.” – Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews.
We were told freedom of speech and belief would not be affected by the change we made to marriage in 2017.
But how much more evidence do we need to wake up to the fact that the Australian public were lied to?
With many of us being taken to court for our views and so-called “conversion therapy” laws criminalising parents, prayer and health professionals, what will it take to get good people in the fight?
What will it take for the mainstream media to acknowledge Australia has a post-2017 freedom of speech crisis?
Proof positive is the annual and relentlessly vicious pile-on on Margaret Court.
Where’s the love and tolerance for diversity three years on?
Arguably the world’s most successful tennis player, now a pastor, Margaret believes what the Bible says about marriage and what science says about gender.
I don’t remember news of the recipient of an Australia Day honour ever being leaked.
But news that Pastor Margaret is to be promoted from an Officer of the Order of Australia to a Companion was.
The same people who said same-sex marriage was all about love and tolerance were spitting venom at the 78-year-old grandmother because she has spoken publicly over the years in defence of marriage and family.
Her views are not exclusively religious be any means. Almost five million Australians voted to retain the definition of marriage and many millions more are uncomfortable with the radical LGBTIQA+ gender fluid programs now lacing school curricula.
For having the temerity to exercise free speech, the high priests and priestesses of the rainbow sash want to burn Margaret Court at the stake. (They probably would not describe themselves in such bigoted gender binary terms).
Is there a more vilified figure in our nation?
The Coalition for Marriage, of whom I was a spokesperson, recognised the threats to freedoms masquerading under the innocuous-sounding slogan “love is love”.
We said the plebiscite would be a referendum on freedom of speech, freedom of religion and parents’ rights to shield their children from radical LGBTIQA+ indoctrination at school.
But we were told these were “red herrings” and “furphies” that had nothing to do with the love of a same-sex couple in media debate after debate.
Apparently, the Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews didn’t get the memo.
He unloaded on pastor Margaret, perniciously accusing her of causing deaths.
“Calling out bigotry is always important. This bigoted quackery costs lives.”
It would be interesting, and of course tragic, if he could name one - just one person who died because Margaret Court stood up for the definition of marriage and the science of gender.
Sadly more than 800 deaths occurred because he couldn’t remember who made the decision to deploy F Troop to hotel quarantine.
He went on to say: “I’m quite sick of talking about ‘that person’.”
Cancel culture isn’t just about cancelling points of view, it is about making people whose views don’t conform into non-persons.
Andrews later tweeted:
“I don't want to give this person's disgraceful, bigoted views any oxygen. But when others insist on rewarding them with this country's highest honour – I think it's worth saying again: Grand Slam wins don't give you some right to spew hatred and create division. Nothing does.”
Andrews gives no examples of pastor Margaret’s supposed bigoted views or hatred but the message is clear. People who hold to the pre-2017 definition of marriage are no longer welcome in Australia.
Labor leader Anthony Albanese was similarly intolerant, tweeting:
“Margaret Court has already been honoured for her tennis prowess. She’s already an Officer of the Order of Australia. I think it’s clear for everyone to see that making her a Companion of the Order of Australia has nothing to do with tennis.”
The Australian Labor party has no public advocates for marriage as believed across cultures and religions until five minutes ago in history.
Labor also has no public advocates for gender as defined by science.
The cultural confusion about marriage is also affecting a fringe group in the Liberal and National parties who are either rainbow activists or who have not thought about the consequences of same-sex marriage to freedom and what children are taught about gender.
If the likes of Daniel Andrews continue unchallenged, it won’t be long before freedom is completely snuffed out.
The Left has tried to destroy pastor Margaret’s good name as a warning to the rest of us to conform with their view of the world, or else.
If now is not the time to stand up and fight for freedom, when is?
Keep up with Lyle's political commentary, sign up here.